One of the first things my attorney, T. Greg Doucette, told me when I spoke to him was that he’s a Republican. Since, I make it a policy to get to know people before I condemn their views, I kept talking to him. After all, he volunteered to defend 10 of us who were arrested during Moral Mondays protests because he believes in our Constitutional right to air our grievances to our state legislators.

He and I may disagree on some political points, but the more I get to know him, the more I really, really like him.

Recently, I called to ask him about when I’m due in court again and he told me he was in the middle of a Tweet-storm.

Later that day, I started seeing the tweets all over Facebook and Twitter — 41 of them — detailing a case he had just won.

It started with a 17-year-old arrested for reckless driving as to endanger. Those are pretty serious charges, especially since the arresting officer reported clear 360-degree skid marks.

“Wait,” I said as he was telling me the story. “The kid in question here; I’ll bet he’s not white.”

Nope, my attorney said, he’s African-American.

You can read the whole tweet-storm here, but in essence, it is a rant against what happens all to often to African-American youths. The kid’s mother had the forethought to go to the scene and take photos of the skid marks, so Greg was able to prove there were no “donuts.”

A sampling:

#19 Do I hate police? No, I hate raging incompetent cowboys w/badges financed by my tax money who clearly haven’t had an eye exam recently.

#24. This is what police brutality looks like. It’s not just people having their rights violated and the sh*t kicked out of them.

#25. It’s an innocent 17yo black kid trying to be a good human being and not running over a cat getting thrown headlong into our court system

#28 Based solely on the word of a law enforcement officer who swore an oath to serve and protect who tehn lied to the court with impunity.

#29. The state doesn’t care, of course. For every one case dismissed, more plead guilty. Court costs are $188+ apiece.

#37. It doesn’t matter if you put an R or a D or a U beside your name — this is wrong.

This kid slammed on his brakes to avoid a cat. That got him arrested and charged with a pretty serious crime.

The judge dismissed the case, but the kid and his family are out the cost of an attorney and the cop got off without any consequences at all, even though he committed perjury.

This, in a nutshell is what’s happening every day in our so-called justice system. Too often, it happens quietly. It flares when unarmed young black men are killed, but for the most part, the school-to-jail pipeline for poor youths is intact. Private prisons predict future “inventory” using third-grade reading tests, especially in primarily African-American neighborhoods.

We’re closing schools and building private prisons, and these corporations expect their “inventory” to be kept up.

Our so-called justice system is racist and classist, and it’s refreshing to see a conservative calling it out.

Thanks, T. Greg; you rock.